Chris Pine's Former Agency Sues 'Star Trek' Star for Commissions

Chris Pine's former agent has hit the 31-year-old "Star Trek" star with an especially personal lawsuit that accuses him of breach of contract and implies that he is disloyal.

The boutique talent agency SDB, which represented Pine from 2002 to 2011, said in its lawsuit that it wants "commissions on millions of dollars that Pine has already earned" and "also the millions of dollars that Pine will continue to earn as a result of SDB's prior hard work and dedication to Pine's career."

The suit, filed in Superior Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday, says that Pine hasn't paid $75,000 in commissions for "Welcome to the People" or $107,650.12 for "This Means War." On top of that, the lawsuit says, the actor owes the agency substantial amounts for the next "Star Trek" movie.

Read the filing here.

And it wants 10 percent of anything Pine earns on any "Star Trek" or "Jack Ryan" movies, and 10 percent of anything the actor earns on at least 23 other projects, including "This Means War," "A Time to Kill," "Winter Hill," "Ness/Capone," an untitled Steve McQueen biopic and untitled Stephen Gaghan projects.

According to the lawsuit, Pine was guaranteed $1.5 million for the first "Star Trek" sequel and $3 million for the second "Star Trek" sequel. On top of that, Paramount promised Pine up to 5 percent of what the studio earned on merchandise with Pine's name, likeness and voice.

He did even better with the 2010 "Unstoppable," which gave him $3 million in fixed compensation. For the "Jack Ryan" movies, the paydays were better yet: $4 million for the first, $8 million for the second and $12 million for the third -- plus between 5 percent and 10 percent of adjusted gross receipts after break even.

Also read: 'This Means War' Gets PG-13 After Fox Trims Sexual Content

It also says he got $5 million for "This Means War," plus deferred compensation.

But the 17-page lawsuit also gets personal.

It complains that when Pine cut ties with SDB in 2011, he did it by email.

"Pine did not even have the courtesy of picking up the telephone to tell SDB that he was ending their relationship of nine years," the lawsuit says.

And it says that after the agency sent Pine a letter in 2011 reminding him that he still had to pay 10 percent commission on any project the agency obtained for the actor, "neither Pine nor Pine's representatives have ever had the courtesy of responding."

The lawsuit paints a picture of Pine in 2002 as "an unknown actor with literally no professional acting experience. Though Pine could not even find an agent to represent him, let alone a paying acting job, in 2002, SDB agreed to meet with Pine as a favor. ... Even though no one else was willing to touch Pine, in 2002, SDB agreed to take Pine on as a new client."

SDB says that "over the span of approximately eight months, SDB had taken Pine from an unknown actor who earned $800 on his first job, to a young actor who played the leading male role in a studio feature film."

The lawsuit quotes Pine who, a month after "Star Trek" was released, praised his agents.

"I'm a firm believer in loyalty," the lawsuit quotes the actor as saying. "At the end of the day, this is a business, and you are a business, and I have felt in my career it has served me to stay with the people who started with me because I believe they're as passionate and as dedicated as they've ever been."

Representatives for Pine did not return several emails and telephone calls seeking comment.

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